


Watching Over Him

by vianne78



Series: Nate [3]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Developing Relationship, Friendship/Love, Injury, M/M, One of those Near Kiss Experiences, Post-Blind Betrayal, Pre-Relationship, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 20:05:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10838448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vianne78/pseuds/vianne78
Summary: Butting heads with deathclaws, broken bones... Nothing dramatic, just another day in our soldiers lives. Just another chance of beating around the bush.





	Watching Over Him

**Author's Note:**

> I'm truly sorry for this. I'm trying to push them together, but they seem to be taking their sweet time.

During moments like this, Danse really, really missed the vertibirds. They were out in the open, completely without cover, and they were stuck.  
Well, stuck for as long as it would take for the stimpaks to fix Nate’s broken leg, at least enough for him to step back into the power armor and walk to Somerville Place. It was the closest settlement, and there they could stop and rest, let it heal properly. 

Nate’s armor was in a dreadful shape, the legs so shredded Danse considered it a small miracle Nate got away with merely a broken leg. It could have been so much worse, and an uninvited image of Nate’s torn body lying in the middle of a deathclaw stampede floated into Danse’s mind. The imagined scenario made his stomach turn upside down and his breath damn near audibly hitch. Danse quickly averted his thoughts.

They were sitting on the ground, Danse’s back against Nate’s, keeping an eye on their surroundings. Danse had left his X-01 open, just in case he would need to get in it in a hurry, but he was relatively sure there would be no more deathclaws around. Not after the whole nest they had already taken care of.  
The geiger counter was rattling, reminding them they were not that far from the Glowing Sea. They were both pumped full of Rad-X to minimize the effects.

***

“How are you holding up?”  
“Fine,” Nate grunted, and Danse almost smiled. The Vault Dweller would keel over and die rather than admit he was hurt, but his back felt feverishly hot and a sheen of sweat was still covering him, so the pain must still be sharp. It would take a little while longer. They would be fine for a little while longer.

“I forgot how it felt,” Nate murmured as he adjusted his position carefully.  
“Hm?”  
“I’ve broken this leg before. Skydiving. You know. Over two centuries ago. Snapped like a twig when I took a careless landing.” His sentences were clipped, voice restrained, but clearly he was making an effort to make them think about something other than their situation, and Danse loved hearing about the world that once was.  
“I forgot it hurts like a bitch, s’all,” Nate continued, and the huff he let out sounded almost amused. “Still think the drop was worth it. And so did Nora.”  
Danse remembered reading about skydiving. Dropping soldiers from the sky, of all things.  
“So you actually jumped off a plane with a mere scrap of fabric strapped to your back?”  
“...I did. We did. For fun.”  
“That’s insane.”  
“Yeah.”

***

The wind was whirling around them, carrying leaves and debris with it, gusts of sand occasionally blurring the view. They were silent, leaning against each other’s backs.  
Time was slowly ticking away.  
“Regretting anything yet?” Nate asked, surprising Danse.  
“Regretting?”  
“Well, joining me. Seeing as I’m insane and all.” There was a hint of a smirk in the words.  
Danse bit back a laugh.  
“I have no regrets. I feel honored to be with someone like you. Older than dirt, that is.”  
Nate sighed sadly. “You’re making fun of an injured man.”  
“I wouldn’t. I have no sense of humor.”  
Nate leaned his head against the back of Danse’s and laughed. “And _lying_ to an injured man, too. The world sure has gone to hell.” It was a genuine, beautiful laugh, deep from his belly. The sound of it made Danse smile, his teeth flashing in the murky light. He could listen to that laugh for days on end.  
Nate felt more relaxed against his back. A little less sweaty. Good signs.

***

Danse had to break the silence when he noticed Nate nodding off. He sorely needed the rest, and if Danse could have made sure they were safe, he would have let him, but this was not the place. So he cleared his throat.  
“I made the jump, you know. Off the Prydwen, in the power armor.”  
Nate flinched, lifted his head, his voice thick with the near sleep.  
“Mh...you did the dare?”  
“Five times.” 

Danse left out the fact that he had first done it in a rather juvenile fit of pique, just to educate some of the most reckless rookies to ever serve under his command. And then later he had done it again - repeatedly - because of the sheer, frivolous thrill of the fall.  
The reputation he had gained doing it had been just a bonus. 

“What, five? You? Really?” Nate was fully awake again, straightening his back. “And you walked away, too?”  
“Every time.”  
“That’s... that’s insane.” Nate sounded delighted.  
Danse grinned, pleased more than he was willing to admit.  
“So, regretting anything yet?” He asked lightly.  
Nate laughed again, shifting his leg carefully to see how it felt.  
“What, after only just beginning to learn what is lurking beneath that decorum? No way. And I think we might be good to go, too. A little help getting up?”

Danse rolled on his feet in one smooth motion, moved to give Nate his hand and pulled him up. Nate ended up standing almost against Danse, grabbing his shoulder to hold his balance while he tested the broken leg. Danse still hadn’t let go of his arm, and they were standing very, very close to each other. Danse could smell the dust and sweat on Nate’s skin, and had to fight an unexpected, overwhelming urge to lean his head forward just that fraction to bury his nose in the soft skin under Nate’s blood-smeared ear, just to smell it even better.

“How does it feel?” He asked instead, and did his voice seem a little out of breath?  
“Feels good,” Nate answered, lifting his eyes from his leg to look at Danse. Deep blue met golden brown, so close their breaths were mingling. “Even better than I thought.”

So close.  
Danse swallowed thickly, trying his damndest to _think_ while the proximity prickled on his skin and muddled his brain.  
“So you think we’ll make it,” he managed, and the corner of Nate’s mouth quirked up as he slowly let go of Danse’s shoulder, taking a step back. Just in time Danse remembered he was still holding on to Nate’s arm and he needed to let go before things got awkward, and to breathe again, too, before he fainted and made things even more awkward.  
Nate licked his lips. “Might take a while, but yeah. I think we’ll make it.”  
Were they really talking about the journey to the settlement? Or had this been about… something else. Danse didn’t ask, didn’t dare.  
His cheeks were still burning when they were both inside their armors and well on their way.


End file.
